The present invention generally relates to a system and a method for creating metadata. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system and a method for creating metadata for media files that uses an event database to provide metadata keywords for organizing, indexing and/or searching the media files. The event database uses a location where the media file was created and/or a date and/or a time that the media file was created to determine a specific event that corresponds to the media file. A specific event title may become part of the metadata to indicate the specific event that corresponds to the media file. Based on the specific event, the event database provides the metadata keywords. The media files may be indexed, may be consumed, may be accessed and/or may be viewed by one or more users via terminals over a network. Based on the metadata created by the database of events and/or associated with the media files, one or more users may obtain and/or may access the media files over the network via a search that may use matching keywords. An event page may be provided that accumulates media files identified by the event database as corresponding to a specific event.
Generally known devices may capture, may store and/or may send digital media. Digital media capture devices traditionally record basic metadata, such as, for example, a time and/or a date. A user may download, may display, may access, may obtain and/or may view the digital media from a database via a terminal over a network. Applications on the digital media capture devices generally allow transfer of the digital media across the network, such as, for example, using Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) or Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
The addition of Global Positioning System (hereinafter “GPS”) support to many mobile devices opens up a whole new frontier for mobile application development, such as, for example, the application of location information to the digital media created by the digital media capture devices. One such example is ZoneTag by Yahoo, Inc. (http://zonetag.research.yahoo.com) which associates location information with digital media and uploads the digital media to a social network site.
The social network site is a website or application that has content created primarily by users of the social network site and shared with other users of the social network site. Media content is described and/or classified by the users. Often, the media content is in the form of user-created keywords that are entered by the originating user and/or the other users. Typically, the other users may execute an application to locate, to identify and/or to search the digital media in the database. A searchable index of the media files may be used by the application to locate the media content accessible via the social network site. Metadata associated with the media files provides keywords that may indicate that the media files are associated with a search term. Popular social networks with an emphasis on digital media include MySpace (registered trademark of MySpace, Inc.), Flickr (registered trademark of Yahoo, Inc.), and YouTube (trademark of YouTube, Inc.).
Tagging is the association of the keywords with the media files. Tagging may include a strength of association between the keywords and the media files. Tagging may be a mechanism for classifying the media files so that the media files may be organized and/or may be searched. Tagging is the primary basis of organization for most popular media-centric social networks. As a result of tagging, the users of social network sites may search the media files using the keywords relating to the media content accessible by the social network site. However, the users who generate the digital media files must also generate the associated keywords. Thus, the keywords associated with, corresponding to and/or assigned to the multimedia file may be inaccurate, unreliable and/or incorrect based on the attributes of the multimedia file. Further, if the user generates the keywords when the digital media file is created, exerting effort and/or use of time to generate the keywords may affect, may alter and/or may detract from the experience of the event captured by the digital media file. Still further, the user may be incapable of generating the keywords when the digital media file is created; therefore, the digital media file lacks keywords and is not provided for the searchable index.
A need, therefore, exists for a system and a method for creating metadata for media files. Further, a need exists for a system and a method for creating metadata for media files that use an event database to provide metadata keywords. Still further, a need exists for a system and a method for creating metadata for media files that use an event database to index media files, media content and/or multimedia. Still further, a need exists for a system and a method for creating metadata for media files that associate media files with specific event titles. And, a need exists for a system and a method for creating metadata for media files that maintains consistency in metadata keywords. And, a need exists for a system and a method for creating metadata for media files that creates metadata without user interaction. Moreover, a need exists for a system and a method for creating metadata for media files that may generate a web page for an event that accumulates the media files related to that event.